Spring Cleaning *complete*
by myamanda
Summary: A family tradition takes a mysterious turn
1.

Spring Cleaning 

by myamanda

Timeline: Marriage is common knowledge, Amanda & Lee are still partners

Disclaimer: All characters are property of Shoot the Moon, no infringement is intended.

Summary: A family tradition takes a mysterious turn. 

__

Spring 1992

****

Chapter 1

Tradition.

Ritual.

Bah.

Not that Lee didn't love being a part of this family--far from it. And he was always willing to do his share of work around the house. He considered himself a 90's man; he even did a load of laundry every now and then. But THIS--this was...

A bathroom.

A dirty bathroom.

Hands on hips, he surveyed the battlefield before him.

"How bad could it be?" he asked, his voice echoing off the tile.

He'd been a little wary when Amanda had rallied the entire family in the kitchen that morning. The boys' groans when she'd hefted a jar full of paper slips onto the counter further assured him that this was bad, very bad indeed.

He had the same reaction to Spring Cleaning at the Agency, too, but this was the real thing. And far more treacherous, at least to Lee.

They had each blindly chosen a task from the jar, and Lee's futile attempts to bribe Jamie to trade his "Master Bath" for "Rake the Yard" were intercepted by his wife. "Oh, no you don't, Stetson. You picked it, it's your responsibility. Master Bath. Cleaning supplies are in the upstairs hall closet. Get busy." At his pathetic look back, she'd only swatted his behind with her broom. 

"How have I been so lucky to miss out on this before?" he called on his way up the stairs.

Amanda's head had popped around the corner into the stairwell.

"I think you were in Istanbul last year, and maybe Germany the year before that..." her nose wrinkled in thought. 

"And now, here I am," he said to his reflection, which was also wearing an old green sweatshirt and faded jeans. "Lee Stetson, international spy, master of intrigue...cleaning a bathroom in Arlington. Good use of my skills."

With a weary smile he decided he might as well get it over with. Picking up a large white bottle of generic bleach, he reached down to plug the bathtub. Glopping the thick liquid into the tub, he dropped to his knees and began to scrub.

Much as he now hated to admit it, as a bachelor it would never have occurred to him to clean the bathtub. Didn't it get clean when you took a bath, with all the soap and stuff?

Remembering the look on Amanda's face when he had asked her that question so many years before, he stepped up the scrubbing.

Running some hot water into the tub, he noticed that some of the grayish-white stuff was still more gray than white, and there were some orangey-colored stains near the drain. Hmm. Adding more bleach didn't seem to help. Perplexed, he reached around to grab another bottle of cleanser, and added it to the mix.

"A-ha!" he thought, mentally proclaiming victory over the enemy. Adding a little more from the second bottle, he was extremely pleased when the mixture began to bubble and fizz, surely removing even the most stubborn...

And his world went black.


	2. 

****

Chapter 2

His head was heavy, throbbing. He didn't dare open his eyes, anticipating the headache that awaited him.

He wasn't even close.

He was lying on the bed, sort of, one leg hanging off onto the floor. He tried to sit up, get his bearings, take something for his head...

Sitting up proved difficult, and he reluctantly pried his eyes open to find out why.

Amanda was laying across his chest. Funny, she must have colored her hair or something, it looked darker. He moaned, partly from the throbbing pain in his head but also hoping for a little TLC, a little coddling, something he could always get from his wife.

"Manda.--"

The woman in the bed turned over, a sleepy eye shifting to his gaze. The woman who *was* a brunette, but was most definitely *not* his wife.

"You say somethin, babe?"

Startled, Lee sat up, pushing her nude body onto the bed. "What the hell? Who are you?"

"Wow, you DID do too many tequila shooters," she muttered, turning her face back into her pillow.

"Who *are* you?" he demanded again, "and what have you done with my wife?"

"Your wife? Oh, Jesus. I warned you about eating the worm". Resignedly, she rolled over to face him. "Sleep it off, Scarecrow. It's too early for this."

Incensed by the now constant pain behind his eyes, he grabbed the woman by the shoulders, forcing her to sit up and look at him.

"Tell me who you are, or I swear I'll..."

"Lee, honey, it's me, Lisa." She reached a hand up to his face, stroking sensually. "You always tell me I'm unforgettable, babe."

"Okay, Lisa," he growled as he caught her hand. "Now I want you to tell me what you're doing here," his jaw tightened, "and what have you done with my wife?"

She laughed, the sound like the clinking of glasses at an embassy party. "Oh, Lee, is this some little game you've come up with?" Her smile became dangerous. "I didn't know you liked to play games," she purred.

Frustrated beyond belief, Lee got up from the bed before he did something more than yell at her. He noticed for the first time that he was naked. "Where are my clothes?" he barked.

"Over there, with mine." She pointed to the doorway before falling back into bed. "Mmm, if you're going out, get me some breakfast like a good boy."

Lee sifted through the pile, sorting the men's clothes from the women's. It was the best he could do, since they certainly weren't his clothes, but they fit and they were better than nothing.

Dressing quickly he walked into the living room to try and figure out where the hell he was.

"Well, I'll be damned."

This was *his* apartment.

Well, not one he ever remembered having, but his nonetheless.

Lee circled the room in a daze. A picture of his uncle with President Reagan stood on the mantle.

His college diploma hung on the wall.

His autographed baseball rested in a glove atop the stereo.

His wallet lay on the coffee table. Full of cash, brimming with pictures of various women, including whats-her-name in the bedroom, he noticed. His federal ID was there, too.

Four black books sat near the phone.

His gun and shoulder holster were draped over a barstool.

Furious now, he marched back into the bedroom.

"They did a really good job."


	3. 

****

Just to clear up any confusion: This story is finished, I just thought it would be fun to post in chapters (well, for me anyway:) I'll do one a day, promise! I did two today, since 3 was short.

Chapter 3

"Wha-? Who did? Did you bring me food?" Her lip was set in a permanent pout.

Lee yanked her roughly from the bed by the elbow. "Whoever you're working for. They did a really great job. Now why don't you just tell me what you're up to?"

A visible shiver ran through her as she looked down at the gun in his other hand. 

"Lee, honey, what are you doing with that?"

Beads of sweat began to work their way down his face.

"I want you to tell me who you are working for, and I want to know if my wife is in danger." His hand began to shake in time with his voice. "And I swear to you, that if anything happens to her, or the rest of my family, while you are sitting here playing this stupid game, I will kill you." The steel certainty in his voice finally seemed to get through to her.

"Lee, baby, I don't know what you think, or who this wife is you keep talking about, but I'm pretty sure you're not married. You've asked me out three times in the last six months, along with every other girl in the steno pool." Tears came to her very blue eyes. "Please put the gun away, honey. You're scaring me."

Convinced she was telling the truth, or at least that she believed what she was saying, he lowered the gun and loosened his grip on her arm. 

Her hand rose slowly to his forehead. "I think you need to see a doctor. Maybe you did have something weird last night."

"It is possible that I was poisoned. That could explain the memory loss, and why I don't remember how I got here."

Lisa's eyes widened as she slipped slowly out of bed. "Look, I'm just gonna get dressed, okay?" and proceeded to set a new land speed record for getting the hell out of that apartment.

Now alone, Lee sat down hard on *his* couch. It had to be a setup. An elaborate one, obviously. But who would do this? His fingers began to twist his wedding ring, a habit he'd developed when deep in thought.

But it wasn't there.

Panicked, he looked in the floor around the sofa.

Nothing.

By the time he'd turned the apartment upside down, he'd made a couple of discoveries.

Every piece of documentation in the apartment listed Lee Stetson as single.

Lee Stetson had no dependents.

And he never did find his ring.

****

Chapter 4

He had to get out of there. He had to find Amanda. Everything would be alright, if he could just get to Amanda.

"Where are my car keys?" he muttered, looking at the small table by the door where he always left them.

Nothing.

He wouldn't have put it past the little tramp to steal his car, but no, when he looked out the window he could see the vette parked on the street.

He finally found the keys in the pocket of a leather jacket lying in the floor.

They'd even taken Amanda's house key off the ring. Very thorough, he admitted.

On the drive into Arlington, his mind still raced as he processed all that had happened that morning, and tried to figure out who would do this to him. And why now? It was all very elaborate, very personal. His worst fear was that Amanda and the boys had been hurt while he'd been conveniently distracted. "Please be okay, please be okay." 

Pulling up to 4247 Maplewood, he didn't even bother to turn off the ignition. Running up to the front door, he threw it open, hoping the element of surprise would be to his advantage.

It was, in a way.

The house was empty.

But it wasn't their house. 

Just as he had wandered through his apartment that morning, he now stared, open-mouthed, at what had once been his home.

"How long have I been gone?"

Flipping on the TV, he searched for a date. Nope, as far as he could recall, as of yesterday's date he had been cleaning a bathtub, in this house. 

The home had been completely redecorated. Another family's photos rested on the mantle. Tearing open drawers, he found not one familiar item. 

It was as though his whole life, everything that mattered, had just been...erased. He couldn't think of a better word.

Someone had taken his family from him, and he had not a clue how they had done it.

Anguish took over, crumpling his body onto the sofa. "Where *are* you?" Dropping his head into his hands, he was trying to come up with some sort of a plan, when there was a tapping on the kitchen window behind him.

"Amanda!"


	4. 

****

Chapter 5

Lee leapt from the sofa, running to the back door. Flying into the backyard, he again shouted her name.

"Amanda doesn't live here anymore, Lee."

He turned to the familiar voice.

"T.P.?"

"Hello, Lee. I'll bet you're surprised to see me here."

"Actually, it's good to see a familiar face. Listen, I need your help. Something's happened to Amanda and the boys."  
  
"Yes, you do need my help, but you may not like what I have to give. Come on, let's get out of here before the owners come back and we have to explain why we're in their backyard." T.P. took him by the arm and gently but swiftly led him around the corner and back to his car.

"Why don't we go for a drive?"

Lee wanted desperately to continue searching for his family, but felt compelled to listen to his friend. 

"Yeah, sure T.P."

Folding himself awkwardly into the passenger seat of the low sports car, T.P. buckled his seat belt as Lee took one last look at the house he shared with his family.

"T.P., someone is setting me up and I don't even know for what. They've....erased everything. Every bit of evidence of my life for the last ten years. Any proof that I'm married, that we have the boys, that..." he stopped, deflated by the extent of what had been taken from him. "My whole life."

The analytical edge quickly returned to his voice. "I have to get to the agency, find out who's behind this, find Amanda. They must be holding her somewhere, they had to have had this all planned out, because they moved very quickly. They had to move us, so we must have been drugged, or forced..." His hands tightened on the wheel at the thought of his wife and children being harmed.

Through all of it, T.P. smiled placidly. Finally he found an entry into the conversation. "Lee, my boy, don't waste your time looking for the 'bad guys' in this case, because you won't find them."

"Don't say that, T.P., I have to find them."

"I didn't say you couldn't find them, and believe me I have full faith in your investigative skills, I said you wouldn't find them. There's a difference."

Lee ran a nervous hand through his hair. Had everyone lost their mind except for him?

"T.P., you're not making any sense."

"Well, let me try to clarify things for you a little." God, sometimes he rambles worse than Amanda, thought Lee.

"Yes, please do."

"You won't find any antagonists because there are none. Amanda isn't missing, and neither are the boys."

"Then where are they?" asked Lee, exasperated.

"They're home, I would suppose."

"But you saw..."

"That is the home that Mrs. King lived in several years ago. They moved out of there in 1985."

"What?"

"You've entered a fascinating sort of parallel universe, Lee my friend. I seem to have been assigned to be your guide, as it were, to show you all of the changes that you have affected. More accurately, the changes you and Amanda have affected."

"T.P., have you been drinking?"

"Lee, you saw the evidence for yourself. In this world you met Amanda, the same way you remember. Except that in this world, she did deliver that package, and you never had any reason to meet her again. You never even knew her name."

Lee pulled the car over to the side of the road, staring wide-eyed at his old friend.

Encouraged, T.P. continued.

"You, my boy, are still a bachelor, living the high life I presume."

Lee stared into space, unable to absorb all of this.

"But, I...how?"

"I don't know, Lee, I truly don't. But consider yourself lucky, most people can only imagine getting a glimpse of their life, as it *could* have been. Enjoy it, maybe you'll learn something."

With that, T.P. opened the door, and scooted out, leaning back into the open window. "Good luck, Lee. I have a feeling I'll be around if you need me, but I'm not sure exactly how these things function."

And with that he was gone.

Lee blinked hard, shaking his head. Had he really seen what he thought he had? Was T.P. serious? How could that be?

This was all too surreal.

They must have gotten to T.P. too. Brainwashing? Drugs?

Or maybe *he* was the one on drugs. 

That could be it. He could be experiencing some sort of drug-induced hallucination. He was probably sitting in a dark interrogation room with a needle shoved into his arm.

But if that was the case, why couldn't he wake up?

The Agency. He'd go there and everything would make sense.

It couldn't get any worse, could it?


	5. Chapter 6

****

Chapter 6

Crashing through the Georgetown entrance, Lee stormed towards the closet, determined to get an investigation started. Billy probably didn't even know what was going on yet. Mrs. Marston gave him an odd look, but said nothing.

Lee was grateful that some things hadn't changed. Billy was sitting at his desk, sipping coffee and warily eyeing a bottle of antacid.

Lee slammed through the door without knocking.

"Billy, they've taken Amanda."

"Who?"  


Leaning onto the desk, Lee shook his head in frustration. "I don't know. They've covered their tracks, but I think we can..."  


"No, Scarecrow. Who's Amanda? Is she one of your informants?"

Lee tried desperately to wrap his brain around the words coming from his boss. "Amanda, Billy." Lee's eyes pleaded with something to make sense in this world. "You KNOW Amanda," he insisted softly. At the blank look on Billy's face, he tried again. "She was my partner for years, we got married...you were at the ceremony, well the second one anyway, you were there when..."

Watching the concern blossom on Billy's face, he stopped, falling into the chair behind him. His face fell into his hands. "I don't understand what's happening, Billy."

Billy circled the desk. "Lee, you're not making any sense. Can you remember what happened to you? Were you hit on the head? Is it possible someone drugged you?"

At the very real tone of concern in his boss's voice, Lee looked up, finally surrendering to the insanity around him. Billy was real. He could believe in Billy. Billy wouldn't have been drugged, or brainwashed, or bribed to gaslight him.

And Billy didn't know Amanda.

"I don't know, Billy." He sighed heavily. "I don't know anything right now."

A tall brunette woman zipped efficiently into the office, dropping file folders on Billy's desk. "Rough day, Scarecrow? Here are the files you asked for, Billy. And Agent Harmon is on Line 2." She left as quickly as she'd come.

Lee didn't recognize her. Billy didn't generally bring in assistants from outside. "Francine have the day off?"

Billy sat down hard in the chair, sounding as if all the air had been pressed from his body. 

"Francine?" he whispered.

Lee nodded slowly, not understanding the reaction his words had caused.

" Lee, I think you may have developed some form of amnesia. I'm going to call Dr. Kelford."

Speaking into the phone for a moment, Billy came back around the desk to sit beside his agent. "Lee, do you remember the case you worked on in 1983? There was a woman named Mrs. Welch who hosted a cooking show..."

"But it was all a front--she was using her recipes to transfer secrets to the Russians." Lee's face lit up. "That's the case where I met Amanda!"

Billy's face fell, obvious grief straining his features. "Lee, I don't know who this Amanda is, but the case dragged on for months, without a lead in sight. Before we finally figured out what she was doing, she must have decided Francine was too much of a liability...." Billy's body sagged in the chair. "We didn't realize Francine was the leak until she was killed." Breath swooped back into his body. "But I never believed she leaked that information intentionally. *Never*", he added more forcefully. "I can't believe that, Lee. I trusted her. She was my friend. I know, we don't have friends, but dammit, she was mine."

Lee stared, stunned. "No, no, that 's not the way it happened! Amanda's son opened the box, and she made the connection, and..."

Belatedly, T.P.'s words finally sunk in.

__

"In this world, she *did* deliver that package."

The courier had been killed. The Agency had never found out what was in the package.

__

"and you never had any reason to meet her again. You never even knew her name."

He'd never met Amanda.

__

"To show you all of the changes that you have affected. More accurately, the changes you and Amanda have affected."

He and Amanda had never met. And Francine was dead.

"No. No, that's impossible." Lee jumped up, desperately trying to hold reality at bay.

Lee turned to see Doc Kelford coming toward the office. The last thing he wanted was to be kept for observation for hours, or even overnight.

"Listen, Billy, I've got to get out of here, I just need to get some fresh air and I'll be fine."

Billy approached him slowly, as though gentling a horse. "Lee, are you sure that's a good idea? You've obviously experienced some sort of trauma. Maybe something sparked a repressed memory surrounding Francine's death and..."

"No, really, just, just give me some time to sort this all out. I promise, I'll be fine."

Reluctantly, Billy nodded. "Alright Scarecrow, but you've got a standing appointment with psych if you need to talk."

Trying not to look as nervous as he felt, Lee hurried out to his car. 

In desperation, Lee played his last card. He dialed 4-1-1.

"Information? I need a number for King, Amanda King."

"Really? Are you sure? Could you check again...yeah, thanks." He disconnected.

Lee dropped his head to the steering wheel. 

He knew the name, he heard it every night on the news. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. 

But if it was his last chance to see her...

He dialed again.

"Yes, do you have a listing for McGuire? Dean McGuire?"


	6. Chapter 7

****

Chapter 7

Lee sent up a silent prayer as he pulled up to 680 Davenport Way. Although he wasn't sure if he was praying for her to be here, or not.

All he knew for certain was that he was in his own private hell.

Feeling like an encyclopedia salesman, he nervously rang the bell.

There was a smattering of noise on the other side of the door, then a sudden movement as it flew open.

Framed in the doorway was a small girl, about the size of....oh my god.

At that moment Lee knew this was no game. 

Except for her height, the girl was the mirror image of Amanda. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Oh, you're not Melissa."

Charmed, Lee smiled. "No, I'm afraid I'm not. Is your, are your parents here?"

"Mommy!" she shrieked, blissfully unaware that she'd just broken his eardrum. "Somebody's here for you!" 

"Is it Melissa's mom? Oh! I'm sorry." She stopped short as she came into the front hall, and Lee immediately retracted his last thought.

*She* was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Amanda."

"Yes?"

Searching desperately for words, he found himself at a loss.

She didn't know him. He could see it in her eyes.

His heart shattered into a million pieces.

"Do I know you?" He watched maternal suspicion blossom in her eyes, as she put a protective hand over her daughter's chest. 

Still speechless, Lee found himself drawn to the little girl's face. She was so, so perfect. If they had had a daughter, is this what she would have looked like?

"Dot, go inside please. Why don't you go get your daddy and tell him someone's at the door."

Lee looked back at her immediately, recognizing the tone in her voice. He was scaring her.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean for this to be awkward. You must not remember me. We're, we're....old friends."

"We are?"

"Yes. Please. Could I just talk to you? Just for a moment?" His eyes bore into her, begging her to give him a chance. "Please?" he asked, not proud of the tone of desperation in his voice.

Nodding, she stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

"Amanda, I don't know where to begin." He looked at the ground, searching for the memory. "You met me at the train station. I...I gave you a package."

Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! You're that man!" Her hand flew up to her mouth. "I always wondered what that was about. I finally convinced myself you were a drug dealer, I mean, you didn't look like a drug dealer, but who knows what a drug dealer looks like really? Because if they looked like drug dealers they'd be easy to catch, wouldn't they?"

Smiling at her familiar rambling, he shook his head. "It wasn't drugs, Amanda. You did something good. Something for the good of your country."

She smiled, feeling oddly comfortable with this man she'd met for a few seconds ten years before.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"I..." At that moment Lee Stetson faced a choice. He could pour out his whole life story to her.

Or he could let her be, and let her live her life. 

"I was just in the neighborhood, and I thought I'd stop by to thank you." He brushed a shaky hand through his hair. "I never did that, never said thank you."

She smiled, giving him an odd look but accepting him at face value. "No, no you didn't."

Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she had a dishtowel nervously twisted around her left hand. It took every ounce of restraint he had not to reach out and hold her.

But he couldn't do it.

He wouldn't do it.

At that moment, the door opened. 

"Everything okay, mom? Dot said someone was here."

Philip. Taller than his mother now, he put a protective arm around her shoulder.

When he did so, her blouse shifted, and Lee could see...nothing.

No scar. His Amanda never wore blouses like that, because the tip of her scar would show.

This Amanda would be safe.

Safe from him. From the life he had imposed upon her.

She had always assured him that it had been her choice too, but now it was his alone. And he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He began to speak, excuse himself from this family's life for good.

To his surprise, Amanda spoke first.

"Yeah, Philip, everything's fine. Why don't you go inside and see what your sister's up to?" She turned to him. "Where's your dad?"

Right in front of you, thought Lee.

"Out back with Jamie. He's showing him some of his boring weather equipment. Jamie's real into it, though."

With an indulgent smile, she watched her oldest son disappear back into the house. Then turned to Lee.

"So..."

"Yeah. So." Lee hesitated, desperately wanting one more moment. A million one more moments. "How's your mother?"

Her eyes widened. "My mother?"

Lee chided himself. He was scaring her again. Well, hopefully, she wouldn't remember their exchange word-for-word.

"At the train station, you said something about your mother waiting for you at home....I was just wondering how she was?"

"Oh." Her eyes were damp when she met his gaze. "My mother died. Six, no, seven years ago. She was dating a man who turned out to be a Russian defector, and got mixed up with everything...she got caught in the crossfire, and ..." She ducked her head apologetically, not wanting him to see her cry.

The empty place where his heart had been throbbed painfully. "Oh, God, Amanda, I am so sorry."

"It's okay." She shook her head. "I still miss her, you know?"  


"Yeah, yeah I do."

And somehow, she felt that he did.

They stood in comfortable silence for another moment, then Lee started down the steps. "I'm gonna go now. I won't bother you any longer. Just, just..." Unable to keep himself from touching her, just one more time, he reached for her hand. "I was in trouble, and you helped me. You saved me. Thank you, Amanda King." He let all the love and emotion he'd ever felt for her pour into his voice. "Thank you for everything."

She felt an odd surge of excitement zip through her at his touch, as though...she shook her head. Her lips pressed together in a sweet smile. "You're welcome," she said kindly.

"Hey," she called, and he turned, hoping beyond hope that she knew him, somehow.

"How did you find me?"

She'd asked him that once before. He remembered. It wasn't the moment he'd fallen in love with her, he'd known that for a long time. It had been the moment he'd known he would do anything, give up *anything*, just to save her.

Just like he was doing now.

He smiled tightly. "I made a little deal with the devil." At the uncertain look on her face, he continued. "And I'm sure glad I did."

Stepping backward onto the walk, he failed to notice the neon pink Fisher-Price roller skate lying just beneath his foot. All he felt was his body being flipped up into the air, his slick dress shoes unable to get any purchase, then his head landing on the concrete with a thud.

And his world went black.


	7. Chapter 8 (end)

Sorry this last part took so long, had a little personal emergency. --myamanda

****

Chapter 8

"...me some more cold water....Lee...Lee...honey...think he's waking...."

Voices drifted through his mind, floating in and out, not making sense. Not that anything had made sense lately. And with no Amanda...god, it just seemed easier to go back to sleep...stay asleep...

A light shake, a gentle slap on his face. The smell of familiar perfume. 

"Lee? Please answer me. Lee!"

His eyes flew open, and he looked up into her worried face. Of course she was worried, he'd fallen on her walk. She was probably afraid he'd sue.

"M'okay."

"Daddy?"

A tiny face, so like his own, popped into view beside Amanda's. 

"L.J.?"

"Daddy, you fell down." 

Amanda's voice was tight, serious, the words spilling out too fast. "Jamie, please take your little brother. Lee, please sit up and talk to me. You're scaring me."

"What happened?"

Lee sat up, leaning against the wall beneath the open bedroom window. He had a headache, and got a headrush from sitting up, but other than that, he felt okay.

Jamie and Philip sat perched on the end of the bed, bemused smiles overtaking the concern on their faces. Three-year-old L.J. sat beside Jamie, head cocked at his parents sprawled in the floor.

"You mixed bleach and ammonia, Dad. Not too smart."

"Jamie!" his mother admonished. She turned to Lee. "Bleach and ammonia create toxic fumes. They caused you to pass out. We called poison control and they said as long as you hadn't been out too long or been deprived of oxygen you should be fine, but I'd like to take you in for observation just in case, I mean you never know..."

She was cut off as Lee grabbed her face and kissed her with the force of a lost lifetime.

"Eeeew," came a small voice from the bed. 

"We heard this big thud up here, and went and got mom, you know, because of all the s-p-y stuff," Jamie continued, spelling for the benefit of Lee Jr., who did not know or care what his parents did, as long as his supply of Power Rangers was unabated. 

Lee turned to the boys, as though making sure they were real. "Thank you. For everything."

Philip and Jamie looked embarrassed, not sure they deserved thanks. "Uh, yeah, no problem." Philip recovered first. "Well, we figured if something happened to you one of *us* would have to clean the bathroom....", he grinned.

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Alright, wise guys, get out of here and get busy. Show's over."

Two lanky teenage bodies shuffled from the room, while a smaller one made his way across the carpet. 

Squatting down, L.J. looked his dad in the eye. "Where did you go, daddy?"

Amanda reached out to smooth her son's defiant cowlick. "He didn't go anywhere, buddy, he just fell asleep for a little while. "

With the uncanny knowledge of young children, the small boy reached for his father's left hand. His pudgy fingers pointed at the wedding ring shining there. "See, daddy, it's back. It's okay now." And with that, he picked up his juice cup and left the room. 

Lee stared at his wife, taking in every inch of her face. "My god you are so beautiful." She blushed; he could still surprise her. Leaning forward, he reached for her, and she moved happily into his arms. "And I am so lucky to get a chance to tell you that every day." His lips rested briefly on hers. "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

She smiled, and while he was sure there had been other women in his life, he couldn't remember one of them.

"You know, if this is what happens to you when you breathe poison gas, I may have to start carrying some with me."

He laughed. "How long was I out?"

"Oh, five, ten minutes."  
  
"You're kidding." He shook his head. "I had the most bizarre dream..."

She waited, running cool fingers through his hair as she looked into his eyes.

"Never mind. It doesn't matter now." A lump formed in his throat. "But my life would not have been the same without you, and I am so glad that you're my wife."

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she placed tiny kisses on his face. "I can't imagine my life without you either. We wouldn't have L.J., the boys wouldn't have you for a dad..."

"Speaking of the boys, 'Manda, " he looked up hopefully into her face. "Ever thought of trying for a girl?" 

The End


End file.
